11 Numbers You Need to Know About the Global Housing Crisis

There’s a worldwide housing crisis — and we’re not just talking about foreclosures and the crash of the housing market. Billions live without adequate housing across the globe, even though housing is a human right.

One of the most widespread and egregious violations is forced eviction — the removal of people against their will from their homes or land without legal protections or safeguards, typically because they live on land desirable to governments or private developers.

Stripped of their own land, they’re often left homeless or moved to remote areas, cutting off their access to clean water and sanitation, food, health care, education and work.

People living in slums and informal settlements are especially vulnerable to forced evictions. And here in the United States, we too fall shamefully short of fulfilling the human right to housing.

Eleven numbers you need to know

More than 1 billion: Number of people living in slums around the world. Globally, this figure is the equivalent of one in every three people who lives in a city.

2 billion: Number of people who will live in slums by 2030, according to U.N. projections.

More than 2 million: Number of people who have been forcibly evicted from their homes across Nigeria, since 2000.

700,000: Number of people who lost their homes, livelihood, or both, in Zimbabwe in 2005 in the mass forced eviction campaign called Operation Murambatsvina (“Operation Drive Out Rubbish”). Survivors largely now live in substandard housing without access to basic services. An estimated 222,000 children had their right to education impacted. Take action on their behalf.

Zero: Number of permanent police stations in Kibera, the biggest slum in Nairobi, Kenya, home to more than one million people. Police do not regularly patrol the area and women are disproportionately subject to sexual violence. Only one in four slum households has access to a toilet, forcing residents to share pit latrines with an average of 50 other people – but often, women are “too scared to pee”.

One: Number of G8 countries that have not ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the main treaty guaranteeing the right to housing. That country is … the United States of America.

Tomorrow, join Amnesty International and two housing rights experts to discuss these and other issues, including forced evictions worldwide, the criminalization of homelessness and the foreclosure crisis here in the United States in our live Facebook chat.

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About Jason Disterhoft

Jason Opeña Disterhoft is the former Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Campaigner at Amnesty International USA.View all postsRSS Feed

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9 thoughts on “11 Numbers You Need to Know About the Global Housing Crisis”

The current global economic system (capitalism) is driving a bigger space between the rich and poor. Its so clear governments and corporations desire profit over the well-being of humans and the planet. This is tragic. In 1999 the UN titled the Human Development Report 'Globalization wiith a human face'. Over 10 years later globalization still isn't smiling.

The current global economic system (capitalism) is driving a bigger space between the rich and poor. Its so clear governments and corporations desire profit over the well-being of humans and the planet. This is tragic. In 1999 the UN titled the Human Development Report ‘Globalization wiith a human face’. Over 10 years later globalization still isn’t smiling.

Interesting numbers, but make sure you are being careful about your accuracy. Kibera's population numbers are highly contested and almost certainly less than one million. I've written about those numbers here: http://www.brianekdale.com/?p=107. Drawing attention to the growth of slums is very important, but doing so with hyperbole hurts your cause/argument.

Interesting numbers, but make sure you are being careful about your accuracy. Kibera's population numbers are highly contested and almost certainly less than one million. I've written about those numbers here: http://www.brianekdale.com/?p=107. Drawing attention to the growth of slums is very important, but doing so with hyperbole hurts your cause/argument.

Interesting numbers, but make sure you are being careful about your accuracy. Kibera's population numbers are highly contested and almost certainly less than one million. I've written about those numbers here: http://www.brianekdale.com/?p=107. Drawing attention to the growth of slums is very important, but doing so with hyperbole hurts your cause/argument.

Interesting numbers, but make sure you are being careful about your accuracy. Kibera’s population numbers are highly contested and almost certainly less than one million. I’ve written about those numbers here: http://www.brianekdale.com/?p=107. Drawing attention to the growth of slums is very important, but doing so with hyperbole hurts your cause/argument.

It's just so horrible how the economy is completely corrupted and divided. The Government attempts to clear their debts and maintain it's counties, but the money they draw from taxes (which they are supposed to us on their debts and maintenance) they are spending in the wrong places and creating a vicious financial cycle…